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These Shining Lives

Presented by Ross Valley Players at Ross Valley Players' Barn Theater, Ross CA

Mar 08 - 31 2019

Working class women/families pursuing the American Dream while considered disposable

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The fourth play of Ross Valley Players 89^th season is These Shining Lives which chronicles the strength and determination of women considered expendable in their day, exploring their story and its continued resonance.

These Shining Lives by award-winning playwright Melanie Marnich, premiered in 2008 at Baltimore Center Stage.

This play is based on a true American history story of labor and science: Young women — as young as 15 — were hired by Radium Dial and other companies to paint the faces of clocks and watches. To do this, they were instructed that the most efficient way was to create a fine point on the brush with their lips, dip the brush into the radium paint, then paint and repeat. As a result, they ingested quite a big of radium and began to be diagnosed with necrosis of the jaw and joints and other diseases.

This is a story about the Ottowa, Illinois women who worked for Radium Dial Company. The play begins in 1922 when Catherine begins working at this company and ends in 1938 with the winning of a lawsuit that led to today’s OSHA worker protection laws and guarantees.

Directed by Mary Ann Rodgers